The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1887-01-15
CHINESE LOVE STORY.
Fate Of the Hero and Heroine and
Their Tails.

III is CnlneSe love story am gong
to relate" said the painter.
IA Chinese love storyP" asked Lucia.
DO the Chinese ever fall in loveP"
Indeed they do" returned the
painter. "Look now at your plate,
your blue China plate. There the story
is told in crude Chinese fashion, but
can interpret it for you, l think. See,
IN the right-hand corner of the plate is
group of blue islands, with trees and
pagodas, all of the same azure color,
dotted over them, while tall blue trees
bend over the pagodas and the islands
are separated one from the other by
small blue straits. Over this island
empire the great Emperor Pelikan
reigned."
'Pelican-' interrupted Assunta;
''why, that is the name of an ugly,
clumsy bird"
''Pelikan was, / assure you," re-
turned the painter firmly, ''the name
of that Emperor. This palace, built in
the style of the early Chinese renais-
sance, was, owing to the stormy reigns
of the Emperor's predecessors, de-
cidedly in need of repair. Why, the
china bells of the tallest pagoda had
all fallen off into the water. The di-
lapidated state of his palace occupied
the Emperor thoughts more than the
beauty of his daughter, the young and
lovely Princess Swen-Kiang.'
''Oh, what funny name for Prin-
cess, exclaimed Assunta.
''Swen-Kiang, a genuine Chinese
name, slgnorina, just as genuine as her
lovely, long pigtail, which hung down
to the very hem of her yellow silk
gown"
"Oh, that is not very long" objected
Lucia, for the gowns of the Chinese
ladies are very short.
Excuse me, but the gown of the
Princess was quite as long as Lucia's
walking dress. The length and glossi-
ness of this Incompatible pigtail had
caused mighty King, Yoo-Foo, to fall
in love with and offer to marry her.
1t was very grand match for Sven
Kiang, for her father was only an En-
peror over. q few poor little islands.
But the King Yoo-Foo had two very
serious faults in Swen-Kiang's ewes;
grandfather, and besides that he was a
hunchbaek's
'.Oh," returned Lucia, teasingly,
''those are not such very serious faults
in King"
''Alasr' returned the painter, ''the
Princess was so ignorant, so childish.
she lived, You know, more than a thou
sand years ago, she thought them so.
She was very unhappy at the idea of
marrying the ugly old King. And in
her despair she shook off all the blue
bells from her tower, and trampled up
on and crushed to pieces the delicate
snail shells that formed the ornamental
borders of her flower-beds, would even
in her despair have laid violent hands
on her precious pigtail if her maids of
honor had not rushed to the rescue.
After shedding torrents of tears, and
stamping her pudgy little feet till they
ached, she left her porcelain tower,
and taking her fishing-rod went off to
the shore to divert her mind by fishing.
AS she fished she sang. The song the
Princess sang was of her own improv-
isation. Here it is:
Fishing l went by the silver sea,
But caught, alas! ana woe is me,
Never fish with scales of gold;
Only gander, gray and old,
Who went swimming past.
A gander. old, ugly and grim,
What in The world shall do with him?
Tra-la-la, IRA, Ia Ia"
II don't think much of that song,
even if Princess did sing it," ex-
claimed Lucia.
I'm the Chinese it is more melodi-
Gus, rejoined the painter; sit is, am
afraid, badly translated. !"
Ibid you translate itPn asked Assun-
ia, slyly.
The painter turned red and went on
rapidly. oThis song, sung in Chinese
and in the sweet voice of Swen-Kiang,
attracted the attention of youth who
was pacing the sands not very far
away. This young mans name was
Tu-foo. He was the architect en-
Floyed by the Emperor Pelikan to re-
hang the bells on his pagoda, Tu-foo